She's Not Dead
by 4youremyalways47
Summary: They lost their dog Cosmo but Kate might find something more than what she expected


They lost their dog Cosmo but Kate might find something more than what she expected

She walked up to what seemed like the 100th house and knocked on the door and a young girl that looked about 15 answered the door

"Excuse me; is your parents' home? My name is Kate and my husband and I have a home a few houses down. Our dog seems to have run away and I was just wonder maybe if you have seen him?" She asked holding up a picture of the dog

"No but let me ask my mom" Mom! Someone is at the door!"

"Who is it?"

"i don't know she said her name was kate."

"Uhh. Just a minute sweetie I'm coming" a woman's voice called out from somewhere inside the house

'That voice sounded really familiar' Kate thought

As she was walking to the door "thank you now go clean your room" she addressed to the little girl

"Yes what can I do for you?" She asked as she walked up to the door

"I...uhhh...mom?!" She began to stutter because she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Katie!? Oh my, look at you!" She said as she went for a hug but Kate pulled away

"No! It can't be you. You died… You were murdered!" As she was starting to raise her voice her mother was shutting the door so they were both outside. Her mother ushered them to sit on a bench

"Shhh...I know your upset but Karleigh is upstairs and I don't want to frighten her" she whispered as she shut the door and stepped out on to the back porch

"Upset? UPSET? Oh, I don't think that covers it. It's been 15 years and I was just getting over it I was just getting to...where I can live again. I became a detective so I could work on your case myself so I could find out who murdered you. I wasted so much of my life trying to find your murderer it got me shot and now I find out it wasn't even worth going through it. I almost died!"

"Katie, look I'm sorry you had to find out this way"

"You're sorry I had to find out this way or find out at all?"

"No it's not like that at all"

"Oh really then what is it like? Because to me it seems that my life was wasted on a lie! "

"Look, I know this is hard to take in but let me explain"

"I don't know if I want to hear it!"

"No! please just let me explain and then you can leave. I know you are furious with me right now but I need to explain why I'm here."

"Fine"

They both sit down on opposite sides of the outside couch that was sitting on the porch.

"I was working on a case that I probably shouldn't have been working on and things got out of hand. People were trying to kill me and everyone that was involved with the case. I was in danger. You and your father were in danger! I couldn't just let the people who were after me get to the people I care most about. You two meant the world to me and if something happened to both or any one of you, I don't think I would be able to survive. So I had to go into the witness protection program until they caught the person behind everything. You have to understand it was the hardest thing in my life for me to do. However, I couldn't just let them hurt y'all too! And I suffered too because I had to leave everything I knew and leave y'all in the process and start fresh with a new EVERYTHING. "

"Whole new family with the looks of it" Kate said refereeing to the girl she had met earlier.

"No sweetie. No. She is your sister. I found out I was pregnant about a month after. I almost gave her up but then I figured she would be a way to have a little bit of my old life with me in my new life"

"Does she know anything about us? Or who you use to be?

"No I couldn't risk that"

Kate nodded trying to understand and take in all this information at once. It was silence for a few minutes as she thought.

"You know dad took it pretty rough too. He became an alcoholic and it was years of before he became sober again. There were so many nights where I would come home and he would be passed out with the bottle still in his hand. I finally told him that I needed a father that was going to be there when I needed him. I gave him an ultimatum that he either stops drinking and starts going to AA meetings or I was not going to be a part of his life anymore. " she suddenly realized that she has been crying

"Oh sweetie I'm sorry you had to deal with that by yourself. I know it must have been hard at such a young age"

There was another awkward silence because neither one of them seemed to know what to say.

"So have you always lived this close? I thought when they put you in witness protection that they take you to a random location away from where you lived"

"Well yes we use to live in North Dakota but we moved here a few years ago because they almost have the case solved and I wanted to be closer if something were to happen."

Kate's phone starts ringing she picks up the phone looking at the caller id, "Oh I have to take this..."

Johanna listens quietly curiously wandering who was on the other live as she only was hearing a one sided conversation

"Hello?... Hey have you had any luck?.. Oh well I've found something but its not the dog(she looked at her mom slightly uneasy) yeah I'll explain later... Ok well I'll get back to you on that... Ok love you too... Bye"

Johannah didn't say anything she just raised her eyebrow in curiosity.

"That was... Castle... My...husband" Kate said hesitantly

"Oh my! You got married?" She said going in for a hug and catching Kate off guard

Kate pushed her away as soon as she realized what her mother was doing. "Yeah, I uh… I have to go," she said as she stood up and started to walk down the steps to the beach. She called Castle back as she got down to the beach.

"Miss me already" Castle asked as he picked up the phone

"In your dreams… listen I'm going to go for a walk I'll be back later"

"Kate, is everything ok?"

"It will be"

"Ok when you get home we can talk about it over a glass of wine"

"I'm going to need something a lot stronger"

"Ok" he said uneasy "I love you and just know that we can get through whatever this is… We always do."

"I know I love you too"

She hung up her phone and started running trying to comprehend what just happened.


End file.
